Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja on the floor of Parliament during a plenary session recently. PHOTO | FILE
Members of Parliament are expected to kick-start the journey of returning civilians to be tried in military courts, barely three months after the Supreme Court blocked the trial of civilians in the army courts. The journey is expected to start with re-tabling of the UPDF (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was withdrawn by the government's Chief Whip Hamson Obua on February 20.
Sources in Parliament told this publication yesterday that the revised Amendment Bill, which has been drafted after two meetings of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party parliamentary caucus with President Museveni, shall appear on the Order Paper either April 16 or April 17.
Earlier, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja in an April 10 statement to Parliament, citing Rule 28 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament, wrote that the UPDF (Amendment) Bill, 2025, would be among the businesses the government would table in the week running between April 15 and 17. Under the new Bill, the government seeks to legalise the trial of civilians in military courts.
Court declarations
On January 31, seven Supreme Court judges led by Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo in a majority decision, ruled that the General Court Martial, the Division Court Martial, and the Court Martial Appeal Court should not try civilians.
“All charges, or ongoing criminal trials, or pending trials, before the courts-martial involving civilians, must immediately cease and be transferred to the ordinary courts of law with competent jurisdiction,” he ruled.
“The provisions of the UPDF Act [2005] constituting and providing for the trial procedure of the GCM, the Division Court Martial, and the Court Martial Appeal Court, do not contain any or sufficient constitutional guarantees and safeguards for them to exercise their judicial functions with independence and impartiality, which is a prerequisite for a fair hearing provided for under Arts. 21, 28(1), 44(c), and 128(1) of the Constitution,” he added.
The judges also ruled that the military courts don’t exhibit “independence and fairness” while dispensing justice since they derive their powers from the High Command, yet the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, demands a fair and impartial trial for every citizen.
Nevertheless, Chief Justice Owiny-Dollo advised the Executive and Legislature to amend the Constitution and make certain changes if the GCM and other military courts are to try civilians.
Their recommendations included establishing superior courts within the military court system under Article 129 and clothing them with the requisite jurisdiction and guarantee of independence and impartiality to try specific military offences of a capital nature and all other capital offences under the existing laws, committed by military personnel.
They also called for provisions in the UPDF Act for the High Court to sit as a Court-Martial with the power to try all criminal capital offences within the High Court jurisdiction and those unique to the military that attract a maximum of life and death sentences.
These are some of the issues that the more than 330 NRM legislators who make up the majority number in Parliament, joined by their Opposition and Independent counterparts, are expected to discuss this week.
This photo taken on October 16, 2020 shows one of the supporters of Bobi Wine reacting as soldiers force him to sit in a truck to Kitalya Prison where he and 40 others were remanded by City Hall Court in Kampala. PHOTO/ ABUBAKER LUBOWA
What govt seeks
The ruling by the Supreme Court, notwithstanding, the NRM caucus still resolved: “That civilians who acquire specified firearms illegally, be tried by the Military Court Martial, in the first instance, with the right of appeal through the civilian court.”
The caucus also endorsed a follow up resolution: “That provision be made to provide for rights of appeal from decisions of Courts Martial to Civilian Courts.” Similarly, the caucus resolved: “That misconduct by serving military personnel, in the first instance, be tried by the Military Courts Martial, with the right of appeal through the civilian courts.”
The numbers involved
The current House has a total of 556 MPs, of these 529 have voting rights while 27 are ex-officio. The ruling NRM party boasts the majority of 337 members, followed by Independents with 87, the National Unity Platform (NUP) party with 57 members, followed by the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party with 31, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) with 11 members, the Democratic Party (DP) with 9, while the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Justice Forum (Jeema) have one each.
For any Bill to be passed by the House, it requires two-thirds of the members, which translates into 352 members. But Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), on April 14 said: “We have made it very clear that the Constitution has to be respected [because] Article 92 says you cannot amend a law to alter or defeat a court ruling.
Our colleagues in the NRM should sober up because they may think that they are bringing this law to punish the Opposition but should remember how people like [former Inspector General of Police] Gen Kale Kayihura, the former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi brought laws that later caught up with them.”
Mr Jimmy Akena, the president of the fractured Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) party, who also represents Lira East constituency in Lira City, and his Jeema counterpart Asuman Basalirwa, also condemned the move, which they declared to oppose. Similarly, Buyaga West County MP Barnabas Tinkasimire also vowed to fight the proposed law.
“I am totally against it, and I am following the Constitution, but Mr Museveni has no other remedy apart from using the General Court Martial to impose cases against those opposing his government. We are going to fight it and even return to court and challenge it,” he warned.
However, Mr Hamson Obua, the Government Chief Whip, said: “The primary role of the Temple of Legislation [Parliament] is law-making. The proposed amendments to the UPDF Act are meant to ensure compliance with the Supreme Court ruling."
Previously, Tororo District Woman MP Sarah Achieng Opendi said: “The amendment is not bad because it intends to deal with individuals who will be found to have firearms.
This will address illegal possession of firearms, which has become common in the country and is triggering unnecessary murders of innocent people.”
Similarly, Mityana North MP Kibedi Nsegumire said: “There are several proposed amendments, but most people are only pointing out one clause which talks about civilians owning guns illegally and should be subjected to military courts. What is wrong with trying someone in military court if he owns a gun illegally? Those who have licences but end up misusing them will continue being tried in civilian courts, as has been the case before. I am still wondering what they fear here if it is not politicking.”
Likewise, Fort Portal City Woman MP Linda Irene Mugisa said: “We agreed that civilians found in possession of illegally acquired guns, especially those using them to terrorise communities, should be tried in the court martial. Some individuals have been breaking into police stations to steal firearms. If arrested, they should face military court proceedings.”
Government Chief Whip Hamson Obua during plenary recently. PHOTO/COURTESY
Case of Shs100m bonanza
The planned debate of the UPDF (Amendment) Bill, 2025, comes barely a week after a section of NRM, some Opposition, and Independent MPs received a Shs100m financial bailout from the president.
This money, our sources said, was lobbied by the beneficiary MPs through Mr Obua, who reportedly presented their requests to the President during one of the Caucus meetings in January 2025.
The money, the source added, was given to the MPs through one of the top offices at Parliament as a financial bailout to save them from the financial challenges they were going through ahead of the 2026 poll and competition from their opponents.
The NRM party MPs, the source said, picked up their share between 8pm and 9pm on Monday last week at one of the offices located on the fifth floor and one of the top government offices near the House.
Their Opposition and Independent counterparts reportedly picked up their portions from a residence in upscale Nakasero, a Kampala City suburb, known for housing top government officials.
Mr Museveni, who was not clear on whether he gifted these MPs, in a Sunday statement on his official X platform, accused this newspaper and Opposition MPs of fighting corruption selectively.
He defended the classified budget, whose main purposes he said are to buy classified equipment and also to promote activities that help in defeating the “enemy schemes in Uganda and keep the peace of the People of Uganda.” “Has this helped to keep the peace? Absolutely.
Is that not the reason why Uganda is an island of peace in this area? How many traitor groups and schemes have we defeated? Our People can list them for you. Have you heard of it?”
Mr Museveni, 80 and has been in power 39 years, asked rhetorically. But Ms Alice Alaso, the National Coordinator of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party, said: “The President cannot just give the MPs money like that, they will eventually have to pay back by passing Bills, which are in his favour in the coming days.”
With NRM commanding the majority in the House, with 337 members out of the 529 who have voting rights, experts and political players yesterday said that the cash bonanza would most likely influence the outcome of the debate. Speaking about the cash handout, Mr Ssenyonyi posted on his official X-platform: “Now that they have 'nicely' set the stage for Members [with the Shs100m handshake], the amendment of the UPDF Act, 2005, is scheduled to be brought to Parliament.”
Mr Ssenyonyi on several occasions last week also said the Shs100 million cash bonanza was given to MPs by the President as a thank-you for passing the controversial Coffee Amendment Bill last year and preparing grounds for the UPDF Amendment Bill, 2025.
